Augusts maire



A. MAIRE.

APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 14. 19!].

1" 1 vipllllll/llll/llllll Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

Iran I STATES PATENT curios. i

AUGUST'E MAIRE, F ARGENTEUIL, FRANCE, ASSIGNOB TO SOCIETE LORRAINE DES ANCIENS ETABLISSEMENTS DE DIETRICH & CIE. DE LUNEVILLE, OF PARIS,

FRANCE. I

' APIPARATUS FOR'L'UBRICATING INTERNAL- COMBUSTION ENGINES.

- T '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTE MAIRE, citizen of the Republic of France, residing at Route de Bezons, Argenteuil, Seine-et- Oise, in the Republic of France, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Lubricating Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

For assuring the lubrication of internal combustion engines pumps are at present almost universally employed which draw the oil from the lower part of the crank chamber serving as a reservoir, and deliver the said oil to all the parts of the engine.

The use of the lower part of the crank chamber as an oil reservoir may have certain drawbacks in the case of motor-car engines, and more particularly aviation englnes.

Namely, in order to provide a considerable .quantity of oil which will allow of running the engine for a certain length of time, it is necessary that the oil shall stand at a rather high level in the crank chamber, so that when the engine is inclined to any considerable extent the'movement of the engine connecting rods are liable to cause the oil to spurt up into the cylinders.

On the other hand, if an auxiliary I'BSBI'? voir is employed from which the oilis drawn by a separate pump, there is a risk of variations occurring in the oil level in the crank chamber.

To avoid those drawbacks, apparatus has already been proposed comprising essentially a hermetically closed reservoir of lubricating oil which supplies theoil to the crank chamber by the sole action of gravity through a supply pipe leading from the lower part of the said reservoir into the lower part of the crank chamber. The level V of oil in the crank chamber is kept constant I by providing the reservoir with an air inlet pipe opening at one end into the upper part of the reservoir and at its other end into the crank chamber at the level at which it is desired to maintain the oil.

The present invention now consists in improvements in lubricating apparatus of the kind hereinbefore described. These improvements consist essentially. in this that Specification of Letters Patent. Patgnted N 25, 1919,

Application filed June 14, 191?. Serial No. 174,690.

the air inlet tube instead of opening directly into the crank chamber, is now arranged to open into a boxsituated inside the crank chamber and provided at its upper and lower parts with small holes, in such a manner that the level of the oil in the said 7 tically constant.

The accompanying drawing illustrates by v way of example a constructional form of apparatus according to this invention.

In the example, the oil reservoir A which is shown situated above the engine, may obviously be situated by the side of the engine provided that the bottom part of the said reservoir shall always be above the mean level of the oil.

This reservoir is provided with a plug B by means of which it can be closed in a perfectly tight .manner. The rwervoir is connected to the crank chamber by means of an oil supply pipe G and by means of an air inlet. pipe 11' The oil pipe C leads from the bottom of the reservoir and opens into the bottom part of the crank'chamber. The air inlet pipe D leads from the upper part of the reservoir and it is provided at its lower end with a ferruled portion E which enters a box F fixed to the crank chamber and extends into'said box down to the desired level of the oil.-

The box F communicates at its lower end through a small hole G with the interior of the crank chamber, and it communicates at its upper end through small holes H likewise with the interior of the crank chamber.

The operation of the improved apparatus is as follows:

It is assumed that the crank chamber has been filled with 'oil up to the desired level by means of a cock I provided for this purpose. The oil reservoir can be shut off from the crank chamber by means of a cock J, which latter allows of filling the reservoir without oil flowing into the crank chamber.

After the reservoir has been closed by means of its plug, the cock J a may beopened to let the oil run into the crank chamber; the oil level reaches the level cock, the lower portion of the/pipe E is immersed in the oil that has been able to enter the box F through the holes G and the oil in the reservoir A can no longer flow out, because a comparative vacuum isformed; above the level of the oil in the reservoir, since air can only enter the reservoir through the pipes E and D which are sealed by the oil in the crank chamber.

As soon as the oil level sinks in the crank chamber, the lower end of the pipe E will be uncovered and the pressures in the reservoir A and in the crank chamber will come into balance, and consequently oil can flow out through'the pipe C until the lower end of the pipe E is again sealed by the oil.

In the case of a sudden starting or a sudden braking of the motor-car, or in the case where the aeroplane rocks in the wind, the oil in the crank chamber will surge from side to side and would tend to uncover the-lower end of the pipe E, but since the box F communicates with the crank chamber only through very small holes G and H, the level of the oil in the said box will not share the violent surging of the oil in 'thecrank chamber, but will remain at a level which is the mean level between two consecutive oscillations. The box F thus acts as ashock-absorber. Without this box, the pipe might be uncovered in the sudden movements of the apparatus and the level of the oil. would tend to rise in the crank chamber above. the.

normal level.

The air inlet'tube ismade in two parts, and by making the ferruled portion E which is interchangeable, of suitable length, the level of the oil can be adjusted toany determined constant height for each particular case.

Having now described my'invention, what When voir to therlower'part of. the crank case, a

control chamber of a comparatively reduced size mounted in the crank case and communicating therewith by means of suitably sized holes-provided at its upper part and at its lower part and an air inlet pipe opening at one end into the upper part of the oil reservoir and having its other end in the said control chambersubstantially at the level-at which it is desiredthe oil shall be adjusted in-the crank case, substantially as described and for the purposeset forth.

2. An apparatus for lubricating internal combustion engines comprising in combination: a crank case, an oil reservoir having its bottom part above the mean level of the oil in the crank case, an oil supply pipe connecting the bottom part of said reservoir to the lowerpartof the crank case, a control chamberof a comparatively reduced size mounted'inthe crank case and communicat AUGUSTE MA-IRE.

Witnesses: V V

LOUISMOSES, CHAs P. PRESSLY'.

1 holes provided at itsupper'part and at its- 

